By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) sees his December 11th fight against Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) taking him to another level in popularity among boxing fans. Khan, 23, takes on the toughest and perhaps the strongest puncher in his career in the 28-year-old Maidana. Before this fight, Khan has been mostly matched selectively against guys that his management knew he could beat. Maidana is a fighter that Khan has been kept away from for the past year with the excuse that Maidana wasn’t well known enough in the United States for the fight to take place.

In an interview at Sky Sports Ringside, Khan said “I think this fight will shut up a lot of critics. Marcos Maidana is a big number in America. I think he’s the most dangerous in this division. It’s either me or him that’s the best in the division.”

Some would say that Timothy Bradley or Devon Alexander are the best fighters in the light welterweight division. Khan still hasn’t proven himself after being stopped by Breidis Prescott in 2008. He’s not facing big punchers until now.

Speaking bout what Khan will do if he beats Maidana and the winner of the Bradley-Alexander bout, Khan says “From there, I’ll move up to 147 pounds and fight the best at that weight to find out who’s the best. You got the likes of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, and some huge names like Sugar Shane Mosley.”

It’s really doubtful that Khan will ever get to the stage where he’s fighting Mayweather and Mosley, unless he takes them on after getting beaten up by Maidana and two or three other light welterweights. I don’t see Khan as making it to the next level, I really don’t.

Khan says “This fight [Maidana] is going to take me to the next level and I’ll beat a puncher…If you make a mistake, you have to pay hard. Maidana, you know, is a big puncher. I’ve got the power and the speed, whereas Maidana just has the power. With my movement and power, I’m sure I can take him out. I never go into a fight thinking I’ll get a stoppage, but in this fight I think I’ll get a late stoppage or a unanimous decision, because it will be a tough fight.”

Khan doesn’t make any sense at all. I hate to break this to him, but he’s going to get knocked out and knocked badly. This guy is the perfect opponent for the big punching Maidana, and the fact that Khan thinks he can take him out means that the fight will be that much easier for Maidana to score a knockout.